Fence



J. M. PITTS.

Portable Fence. No. 30,544. Patented Oct. 30, 1860.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. M. PITTS, OF SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA.

FENCE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,544, dated October 30, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. PITTS, of Sumter, in the district of Sumter and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Portable Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which 7 Figure 1, is a perspective View of several different styles of panels looked after my method. Fig. 2, is a side view of portions of two panels locked and braced after my method. Fig. 3, is a view of the same. Fig. 4:, is an end view of the fence as used for meadow and other land, and Fig. 5, is an end view of the fence as used on the side of a ditch or other locality where it is not desirable to have the brace extend out beyond the front of the fence.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

My improvement relates solely to the construction of straight portable fences without posts, and the nature of my inven- 'tion consists in the combination and ar rangement of the short, and long stop-battens with the semi-dovetails which are formed in reverse positions on the upper and lower ends of the panels, and braces, in the manner hereinafter described. By my arrangement, the panels can be set in a straight line, retained firmly in position against lateral, longitudinal and vertical play without the use of keys, clasps, pins or wedges, and each panel can be removed whole or with its rails attached to the battens, and a fence can be set up alongside a ditch or on a sidewalk, without ofltering obstruction; for one leg of the brace stands vertical and close up to the outside of the fence, while the other stands out oblique from the inside of the fence.

My arrangement as a whole, is exceedingly simple, convenient and neat, and admits of the panels being filled in with palings, rails, lattice or any character of work desired.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The panels A, A, A may be made of any configuration and material preferred. The panels are formed as follows: If a fence with longitudinal rails is to be constructed,

take two long fiat rails a, b, and saw a semidovetail c, on the edge, at the ends of each, so that each pair of semi-dovetails will face each other; then take two more rails of the same length and cut a similar semi-dovetail (Z, at each of'their ends, so that the semidovetails stand opposed to each other. The rails thus prepared, are to be used as the top and bottom rails for two panels. To complete the panels, place between each pair of the rails with semi-dovetails, one or more rails 7, about two inches shorter than the upper and lower rails and fasten the whole together by means of vertical battens or lateral stops 9, 9, care being taken to have these battens cover about half the length of the semi-dovetails. On the opposite side of the panel and just in line with the vertical battens, are placed vertical pieces or lateral stops it, it, said pieces extending about half way over the semi-dovetails and from the top edge of the lower rail down to and slightly below the lower edge of said rail. Two panels thus formed, are locked together by first inserting the lower semi-dovetailto do this one of the panels is kept vertical and the other is held in an inclined position, the lower edge of the lower rail of the same then elevated to the top edge of the short lateral stop it, and the lower portion of the panel moved laterally a certain distance and then forced down until the inclined portions of the dovetail touch-at this stage, the upper edge of the panel is forced laterally until the upper semi-dovetails stand directly in line with one another and fully interlock. The two panels thus locked, require no further device to hold their lower rails together, but an additional means is necessary to hold the upper rails together. This requirement is met by passing an angular brace C, or D, between the meeting ends of the panels and having the interlocked ends of the upper rails pass down into the oblong slot bet-ween the upper ends of the legs 2', 2', of the brace and rest upon the cross piece j, that holds said legs together.

When the brace D, is used, one of its legs stands vertically on the outside of and against the panel, while its other leg extends out from the inside of the panel and is fastened to an anchor driven into the ground. In general, I shall use the brace D, but as my invention of reverse set dovetails and long and short stop battens will be usefuland is novelin connection with any description of brace, I deemed it proper to show, in the drawings, the two braces C, and D. 7

Having thus described the manner of forming and uniting two panels, of a rail fence, it is simply necessary to remark that the same mode of procedure will enable the most ordinary mechanic or laborer to construct and erect an entire fence either of rails, palings or lattice work.

In order to turn a corner, all that has to be done is to chamfer or square ofi one of the upper semi-dovetails, remove the short stop h, interlock the lower dovetails slip the chamfered or squared shoulder under the dovetailed rail of the last panel and insert a nail or bolt through the two upper shoulders. V

I am aware that dovetails have been used in the construction of worm and straight fences, but not in connection with long and J. M. PITTS.

Witnesses:

R. W. FENWIGK, V GooDWIN Y. ATLEE; 

